Permian Basin, West Texas, July 13, 2026
In the Permian Basin of West Texas, Gunnar drilled a relief well that located its target at a world-record 306.11 ft center-to-center, roughly 6x the longest range of any ranging system, then executed a dynamic kill of a blowout flowing more than 8,000 bbl/day and permanently sealed the well, all in under a week.
Gunnar Energy Services has completed a relief-well intercept, dynamic kill and permanent plug & abandonment on an uncontrolled well in the Permian Basin of West Texas, with the entire operation executed in under a week.
The well was releasing more than 8,000 bbl/day and had to be killed from below. Gunnar drilled and steered a relief well with DeadAhead™ wired-pipe active magnetic ranging, identifying the target at a center-to-center distance of 306.11 ft, a world record and roughly six times the longest range achieved by any ranging system, a step-change rather than an incremental gain.
With the target located, a complex dynamic-kill operation stabilized the flowing well. Gunnar then bullheaded 1,560 bbl of cement to achieve zonal isolation from the San Andres formation to surface, permanently securing the well.
Completing the relief well, the record-range ranging locate, the dynamic kill and permanent abandonment in under a week makes this among the fastest relief-well kills on record. It follows Gunnar's world-first commercial deployment of active magnetic ranging-while-drilling on powered drill pipe.